Mayor sheds more light on 'agreement' with company at centre of Post Office scandal
25.01.2024 - 19:03
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Andy Burnham has shed more light on the agreement he signed with scandal-hit software firm Fujitsu. Japanese company Fujitsu has been at the centre of the Post Office scandal, with its faulty Horizon accounting software being used to convict more than 900 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses for years.
In light of the scandal, which has been pushed into the public spotlight once again following the broadcast of ITV drama 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office' earlier this year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced new legislation to overturn wrongful convictions.
There also has been scrutiny in Greater Manchester, after the mayor and Manchester council leader Bev Craig signed an ‘exploratory agreement’ with Fujitsu on a trade mission last month. A spokesperson for Mr Burnham and Coun Craig, who is the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s portfolio lead for economy, has defended the deal.
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They said: "No contract has been signed between Greater Manchester and Fujitsu, no work has been undertaken, and no public money has been spent with or earmarked for Fujitsu.”
Mr Burnham has now been probed further on the deal during his regular phone-in radio slot on BBC Radio Manchester. Presenter Mike Sweeney asked the mayor if he was ‘reviewing’ the agreement on Thursday (January 25) in light of Fujitsu’s admissions of failures.
“They are very serious admissions, I want it to be clear that I fully support postmasters and mistresses in their campaigns to get justice from the Post Office, and from Fujitsu, and from the government,” the Mayor replied.
“We have to wait to find out what the public inquiry finds about who is to blame and to what extent they are to blame. All